After Forever

Have you ever thought about your soul - can it be saved?
Or perhaps you think that when you're dead you just stay in your grave.
Is God just a thought within your head, or is he a part of you?
Is Christ just a name that you read in a book when you were in school?

When you think about death, do you lose your breath or do you keep your cool?
Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope - do you think he's a fool?
Well I have seen the truth; yes I've seen the light, and I've changed my ways.
And I'll be prepared when you're lonely and scared at the end of our days.

Could it be you're afraid of what your friends might say if they knew you believe in God above?
They should realize before they criticize that God is the only way to love.

Is your mind so small that you have to fall in with the pack wherever they run?
Will you still sneer when death is near and say they may as well worship the sun?

I think it was true it was people like you that crucified Christ.
I think it is sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced.
Will you be so sure when your day is near - say you don't believe?
You had the chance but you turned it down; now you can't retrieve.

Perhaps you'll think before you say that God is dead and gone.
Open your eyes, just realize that he's the one.
The only one who can save you now from all this sin and hate.
Or will you still jeer at all you hear? Yes, I think it's too late.

-- Tony Iommi / Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath) 1971

I am the virus

 

Death misery and tears
Calculated waves of fear
Drawn up by think tanks
There's a darkness in the west
Oil swilling
Guzzling corporate
Central banking
Mind-fucking omnipotence


False flags and black ops
Tavistock manufactured shocks
Something's gone horribly wrong
Hot flashes for the neo-con
A population in deep denial
Contagion released from a vial


No one believes in 9/11
Steel frame buildings don't fall in seconds
Murderers in black robes decapitate innocents
The public's blank stare
Did you sleep okay last night, Mr. Blair?

I am the fury, the spirit of outrage
I am the fire
I am the virus
I am the furnace where resentment glows
I am the bias
I am the virus
I am the Hydra headed beast
I am the worm you can never delete
I am the danger that never sleeps

-- Killing Joke (2015)

The Garden

The arrow flies when you dream

The hours tick away, the cells tick away
The Watchmaker keeps to his schemes
The hours tick away....

 

The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect
So hard to earn, so easily burned
In the fullness of time, a garden to nurture and protect

 

In the rise and the set of the sun
'Til the stars go spinning 'round the night
It is what it is

And forever, each moment a memory in flight

 

-- Neil Peart (Rush) 2012

All Things Must Pass

Now the darkness only stays at nighttime
In the morning, it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
It's not always going to be this gray

All things must pass
All things must pass away

-- George Harrison (1970)

two suns in the sunset

In my rear view mirror, the sun is going down
Sinking behind bridges in the road. 
I think of all the good things that we have left undone,
And I suffer premonitions -- confirmed suspicions -- of the holocaust to come.

The rusty wire that holds the cork that keeps the anger in
Gives way, and suddenly it's day again.
The sun is in the east even though the day is done.
Two suns in the sunset; could be the human race is run.

-- Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) 1983

Not Me

Who's gonna fight?  Not Me!
Who thinks it right?  Not Me!
"The threat of war is a passing phase."
Try telling that to a waiting grave.
They say the bunkers will be safe.
They're not big enough for the human race.

Who's having fun?  Not Me!
Gonna carry a gun?  Not Me!
I've got to fight; I got no choice.
They'll never hear my fucking voice.
Deafened in the deathly noise
Created by their brand new toys.

Who's gonna die?  Not Me!
I'll tell you why....
I won't do whatever they say
Even if it means getting put away.
That's what I think -- OK?
You've got to react -- it's the only way.

Subhumans, 1983

abortion politics

During my time in Congress, I regularly introduced legislation forbidding organizations that perform abortions from receiving federal funding. The US Government should not force taxpayers to subsidize an activity they believe is murder....

The federal government has no constitutional authority to permit, fund, or even outlaw abortion. Therefore, efforts to make abortion a federal crime are just as unconstitutional as efforts to prohibit states from outlawing abortion. A Congress that truly cared about the Constitution would end all federal funding for abortion and pass legislation restricting federal jurisdiction over abortion, thus returning the issue to the states....

One factor hindering the anti-abortion movement's ability to change people’s minds is that too many abortion opponents also support a militaristic foreign policy. These pro-lifers undercut their moral credibility as advocates for unborn American lives when they display a callous indifference to the lives of Iraqi, Iranian, and Afghan children....

[A]ll those who wish to create a society of liberty, peace, and prosperity should join me in advocating for a consistent ethic of life and liberty that respects the rights of all persons, born and unborn.

-- Dr. Ron Paul (from his website) Aug. 2, 2015

The Riddle

I'm the button that's been passed from hand to hand.
I'm the tidal wave in a sea of fear.
I'm the tornado from the fiery holocaust.
I'm the acid rain and the fallout dust....

I'm the supersonic jet with a nuclear payload.
I'm the conscience of the future world.
I'm the mushroom looming in the sky.
I'm the finger on the button, who but I.....

-- Space Ritual (2007)

I Can Feel Him in the Morning

Take me down to the water, let me feel it run over me.
Let me feel the pain and the coldness, the loneliness that there must be.
Can’t you see their dreams as they go drifting by?
Can’t you see their faces and their tear-soaked eyes?

I can feel Him in the morning; I can feel Him in the evening too.
I can hear Him in the morning telling me what I got to do.
Got to make a new world; ought to make the old one right.
I can see Him in the morning; I can see Him in the stars at night.

Take me out to the battlefield; let me hear the shells flying by.
Let me hear the sound of the cannons; let me hear them scream and cry.
Can’t you hear their dreams as they tumble to the blood-soaked ground?
Hear them scream for shelter from the world they never found.

-- Brewer / Farner (Grand Funk Railroad) 1971

words from a big wave surfer

Anything I do, I want to be good at. I honestly don't get that stoked beating people or being better than people. Contests are fun sometimes, but I don't have that crazy drive. So I like to challenge myself and get past any mental barriers that I have.... I expect a lot out of myself, and the fact that I ... live this amazing lifestyle, I better be pretty damn good at it and try and do some stuff.... If you're not, what the hell else are you doing with your life? You'd better have some passion for things or hold yourself to high standards or you're just getting by. I don't want to just get by.

It's just the challenge of being new at something and actually picking it up quickly and trying to be really good at it, you know? There's a difference between cannon fodder and actually getting a job done. I like applying and challenging myself. And I'm out actually doing something. I mean, I can challenge myself to beat some fucking video game, but what do you get out of that? What are you going to tell the grandkids one day? "I beat level 10 of WitchCraft." Or whatever the fuck it is. At least these are real experiences.

[T]he only guarantee you have in life is that you're going to die. So why can't you accept that that's going to happen and live your life now? Live like every day's your last instead of acting like [you] will be around forever. People get locked into this routine like they will have another opportunity another day. Ever since I was a little kid, I've been aware that I could be gone tomorrow, so I'm taking advantage of it while I can and trying to get some things done.... Everybody wants to pick [how they'll die], but it's not up to me, it's up to God. But I'm not trying to die; I'm trying to live.... I'm a firm believer that God's got my date written down and that's when I'm going. All I can do is make the most of what He's given me until then.... You don't know when you're going to go; you have to make sure that all of your friends and family know you love them... 'cause you might not see somebody again, or you might not be around.

[C]ut the bullshit and be yourself and start living life. Get to the point. Stop beating around the damn bush and get to the point on things.... Stop worrying about what people think of you. Cut loose. Get things done. I just hate seeing fear. Like, everybody has fear, I have fear of all kinds of stuff, I guess, but it's just insidious. It doesn't get you anywhere.... It's just all the crap we learn, like not to trust people, that make us all scared. You get a little older, have some experiences; and... you get all that scar tissue from the world you grow up in and people you're around, bad experiences and good experiences, and we get scared. We need to get back to the human we're created as....

I'm not curing cancer here; I'm paid to surf. I could be doing more noble pursuits than I am now. But hopefully what I do helps inspire somebody to actually live, and get out of their routine, and do what they're put on earth to do.

-- Mark Healey (Surfing magazine) April 2011.